Because of boredom, Wright idles around bars until intoxicated adults rush him inside. There, for their own amusement, he learns obscene words and naively repeats them to his family members. He was punished for this, but he didn’t know why until later. The same can be said about the words written on the windows of the town in soap letters— the shock and ill-concealed amusement of the neighbors perplexes Wright. Though this discovery of the power in language starts his curiosity in writing, Porter explains that it was “Wright’s later anxiety and guilt over having turned his back on his father’s world” that urges him to write.
Ethan Frome Throughout the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, the main character Ethan goes through hard time in his life, internal and external which eventually lead to his downfall. Ethan is very much a tragic hero because of various tragic flaws in him. Ethan From has very poor judgment and lacks the ability to analyze situations. This flaw leads to problems, including marrying Zeena, his wife, as well as having a relationship with Mattie. Another flaw which Ethan has is his lack in ability to communicate with the people around him.
Due to these traumatic incidents, both young men continue behave in ways that cause them more grief later in their stories. These series of actions result in alienation from friends and family. Holden and Charlie go through several trials and obstacles due to the lack of a nurturing, safe and supportive environment during the time of posttraumatic healing. A key part of Holden and Charlie's character involves their reaction to death of a loved one Holden faces the loss of his brother Allie, and Charlie faces the loss of his Aunt Helen. The two characters also deal with the deaths of their family members in very different ways.
Dishonesty in ‘The Great Gatsby’ The Great Gatsby is a novel written about the backwards lifestyle of celebrities in the 1920’s that no one seems to think about. The fact with dishonesty always leading to a harder road later on is an important standpoint for the novel as a whole. The character I chose to represent the acts of dishonesty and the reasons why they affect the novel is Jay Gatsby. He was dishonest throughout the entire novel, with his first dishonesty before the novel’s time period began, next keeping his occupation a secret, and lastly by being dishonest with himself towards Daisy. Gatsby first began dishonesty to Daisy Buchanan, originally Daisy Carraway, before the novel’s original time period began.
A virgin to war, Henry finds himself running away from the enemy because of his “sense of self-preservation” (Wolford 120). Henry is forced into a situation he has no control over, like Critic Charles C. Walcutt says, “Crane simply shows how a sequence of events take place quite independent of the wills and judgments of the people involved” (Walcutt 205). What Walcutt is trying to say is, regardless of what Henry wanted to do; he was caught up in the situation and had no control over his actions. This lack of control does not always affect Henry in a negative way, however. For instance, in chapter seventeen, Henry fights courageously when “he went instantly forward, like a dog who, seeing his foes lagging, turns and insists in being pursued” (Crane 72).
In the novel, The Catcher in The Rye, the protagonist Holden Caufield seems to be excluded from and victimized by the world around him. As he says to his professor Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side” of life, and he continually attempts to find his way in a world in which he feels he doesn’t belong. This alienation is both the source of Holden’s strength and the source of his problems. Part of Holden’s alienation is a result of his inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to grow up. Like a child, Holden fears change and is overwhelmed by complexity, but he is too out of touch with his feelings to admit it.
Arthur Kipps has been sent to Eel Marsh House to sort out Mrs. Drablow’s papers and estate after her death. He is unaware of the tragedy that has taken place there and is frustrated and irritated by the silence and refusal of anybody to answer any questions regarding Mrs. Drablow, extending the mystery. Mr. Daily whom he meets on the train hints at the bleakness of the place. When Kipps jokes about “telling strange tales of lonely houses”, he gave Kipps a look that made hum shudder at “the openness of his gaze”, this foreshadowing along with the “Alarm” and “Suspicion” of the landlord of the Griffin Arms when Kipps told him about his mission. The silence continues the next day at the funeral which Kipps attended with Jerome, the local solicitor, he also avoided answering Kipps questions and at the mention of the lady in black, Jerome “looked frozen pale his throat moving as if he was unable to utter” and when Kipps pointed her out during the service, he almost fainted.
Holden’s problem is not ‘phonies’, but his inability to accept reality. DO YOU AGREE? J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye depicts Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the text, as a miserable and despondent adolescent consumed by depression. To an extent, it is inferred that his issues are not linked with the so-called ‘phonies’ that he so often blatantly despises, but more so his reluctance to accept reality. In the context of the novel, the definition for the term ‘reality’ would most suitably be discussed as the adulthood which one acceptingly transitions to subsequent to their adolescence.
It is at this point, the narrator finally lets go and deals with his own sadness. Certain events in the narrator's life such as the deaths of his uncle, father, and mother have turned the narrator into an unfeeling man who can not forgive his brother Sonny for falling into a life of heroine addiction. Throughout the story the narrator is angered by the the choices his brother makes such as not attending school, drug use, hanging out in nightclubs, and eventually his arrest. The narrator's anger is expressed in one scene where he goes to his brothers apartment and tells Sonny “that he might as well be dead as live the way he was living”(Baldwin, 2007). It is not until the narrator's death of his own daughter Gracie does he try to reconcile with his brother Sonny through a letter to the prison.
This shows more about Holden’s personality and his negative thinking, which is also a link to his down fall. This is not the only thing that Holden feels guilty about. On the day of Allie’s funeral, “[He] wasn’t there, [He] was still in the hospital”. Holden was not able to make it to his brother’s funeral, and because of that it makes him